Tania Saili
Monday, 16 Jan 2006 (Dehra Dun)
Makar Sankranti dawns the beginning of a year full of fairs and festivals in Uttaranchal. And the first among them is gendi ki kauthik for which villagers from far-flung make a beeline for a day full of fun and frolic.
Since daybreak, droves of crowd can be seen walking down the mountainside to converge at Tyodoh gaad.
Nearly 2000 villagers from 25 villages within a 10 km radius collect at the spot for a day of fun. It is a traditional spot chosen for the past 18 years as the venue for two days of celebration during Makar Sankranti.
“Women and their grandchildren come to the fair to meet up with each other. The young and old flock to the fair. They meet each other, eat, talk and cry when they bid goodbye to one another,” said Durga Devi, a villager.
“We have all grown old. It is nice to meet up with our family here at the fair, God knows whether we will survive another year to see them again,” said Leela Devi, another villager.
Welcome break
For the locals, fairs and festivals are a welcome break from the otherwise mundane life that the village folks live.
It is a day when their women and children turn out in their fineries to shop till dusk, eat traditional sweet meat, meet up with family and friends whom they had met last year at the same time and place.
“This fair is specially meant for daughters and daughter-in-laws who cannot over a period of time visit their home. They get together here with their family. This tradition in the way of this fair, has been kept alive by these people here,” said Renu Bist, head of the block.
In today’s modern world when everyone is forgetting the ways of the ancient, such fair and festivals in the heartland of Uttaranchal, continue to rekindle and refresh the human spirit.
News Source: http://www.ndtv.com
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